If I let you go
by ishxallxgood
Summary: Shikamaru's falling for Temari, but he can't quite find the courage to let her know. Story takes place about a week before the start of Naruto Shippuden. Will he be able to express his feelings to her or will he let her go without ever knowing?


**Hey guys!~ Surprise!~ I was inspired by another song... LOL... It's another Westlife song, called "If I let you go" (obviously named fanfic after it...) Anyway... It's totally Shikamaru's song if he were to ever have one.... I'll spare you with the lyrics but look it up if u want... ;D Anyway... please read and review!~ Thanks!~**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto... if I did it would already be Shikamaru Shippuden ;D  
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5:16am.

The alarm clock was going off again, its incessant beeping digging into the dreams of a very irritated, sleepy ninja. Groaning he looked over at the glowing red numbers of the clock, slowly calculating the actual time in his head. Exasperated, he sank back down into the pillow, the warm, soft, deliciously smooth, and seductively inviting pillow.

"Mmm… pillow-sama…" He moaned, burying his face into the pillow as he murmured a few more loving words to the pillow before closing his eyes, attempting to tune out the persistent beeping.

He tried to fall back asleep, to pick up where he left off before the irksome beeping of that dreadful alarm clock had so rudely pulled him away. Unfortunately, the dream refused to return, and he was more awake than he wanted to be. Angrily he threw back the sheets and crawled out of bed glaring at the alarm clock as it continued to beep, the numbers shifting from a nineteen into a twenty.

5:20am.

He stared at the clock again, 5:20am, which meant it was actually 5:07. He quickly re-did the math in his head again, yup 5:07. If you are wondering why the clock was thirteen minutes fast, it's because he is a very peculiar fellow. Being lazy beyond belief he sets all his clocks fast, so that no matter what happens he would have a few extra minutes to lie in bed, or dawdle before going off to do whatever it was that he needed to do. You are probably now wondering why he picked such an arbitrary number as thirteen, well he the fact is he didn't; he just simply held down the minutes button a little longer and released when setting the time. The number just happened to be thirteen.

Yawning he rubbed his eyes and hit the off button, silencing the alarm, before slowly dragging his feet into the bathroom. He winced as the bright florescent lights flickered on, illuminating the small room. Still half asleep he turned on the faucet, letting the water run as he lazily brushed his teeth. He had a simple enough morning routine, crawl out of bed, silence the beeping, shuffle into the bathroom, wince at the light, let the water run, brush teeth, splashed hot water on face, put hair up, pull on clothes, and silently slip out of the house.

The hot water impacted with his face, waking him up just enough for him to remember why he was getting up so early. He was never one to be motivated to do anything, especially not wake up at five o'clock in the morning to trail someone around, but it was his mission, and as troublesome as it was, he acknowledged that he enjoyed it. Well, not the waking up at five part, but more so the trailing her around part.

He first met her a little over a year ago, he was barely thirteen then, just a lazy kid with no aspirations, but then she came around and turned his whole world upside down. He was still lazy, yes, but now he actually looked forward to things, things that weren't naps on a grassy node under a beautiful blue sky with a few clouds hanging about, things that involved her. For the most part he wouldn't be able to explain it, this infatuation he had with her. She was really not his type, she was loud, bossy, violent, demanding, quite irritating and very troublesome, but damn was she so incredibly beautiful; really, not his type at all. He wanted a quiet, average, decently pretty but not drop dead gorgeous girl who was smart enough to keep up conversation with him, but respectful enough to not challenge him. Yes, he wanted a calm, simple life, but then she came, and in an instant she blew his ideals away and took up residence in his heart, bringing with her a whirlwind of trouble.

Smiling slightly he pulled the brush through his hair as bits of his dream floated by in his head. He sighed, squeezing the gel into his hands and running it through his hair. You are now probably wondering why such a self-proclaimed lazy man would spend so much effort on his hair. The explanation is quite simple, at least to him. If he had let his hair down, he would have to spend a cumulative time of about twenty one minutes to brush his hair back a day if he left it down, as opposed to the four and a half minutes it took him to put it up in the mornings. So you might be wondering why he would even bother keeping it long if that was the case. Well the thing is, if he kept it short his hair would grow at a rate of about three inches every month, resulting in a haircut about once a month to keep it at a decent length. By leaving it long, he would be able to put it up and let it grow for at least a year and a half before it got to an unmanageable length, resulting in him having to get a haircut once every eighteen months as opposed to once a month. It all really boils down to the fact that he is incredibly lazy, but I digress, he is not currently thinking about his hair, but about that girl.

For the past few days he simply couldn't get her off his mind. True he had to think about her while he was trailing her around during the day, but he found himself daydreaming about her when he was alone, and worse yet he started having those dreams, those excruciatingly vivid dreams of her. Shaking the dream from his mind he pulled his hair into his signature ponytail and shuffled back into his bedroom to get dressed.

5:38am.

He stared at the alarm clock again, 5:38, no 5:25am. Five minutes, he had five minutes to put on his clothes and slip out of the house if he wanted to make it there in time. Every morning for the past two weeks he had been playing the same game with himself, waking up at five in the morning, rushing over to her inn, and making it there just moments before she emerged out of the door, leaning against the wall, one hand in his pocket the other stifling a yawn.

This morning was no different than the rest, just as he settled against the cold staccato wall, the front door of the inn gently closed and she walked slowly past him. He stared on after her; once again she failed to notice he was there. Yawning again he rubbed his eyes and slowly approached her, but loud enough to announce his presence. A slight smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth as she jumped, nearly tripping over her own feet and colliding into him.

She glared at him. "You know, for someone as lazy as you, you're quite diligent at getting up at the crack of dawn to scare the shit out of me." Her voice was low, yet strong and commanding, full of her fiery sarcasm, definitely not what he wanted at 5:45 in the morning.

He groaned and mumbled a few words in response. She stared at him, attempting to decipher the jumbled words that had escaped his lips. Content with 'troublesome' and 'mission' she shook her head at him and they continued to walk silently toward the little tea house located just a few blocks away from the inn.

"Not in the mood to talk today, eh?"

He kicked a loose pebble and shrugged in response. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to her, it's just that he still couldn't quite shake that dream from his mind.

She scowled at him as they approached the tea house. "You know, you don't have to meet me this early every morning. Not that I mind the company, but if you're not going to say anything and just be a half-asleep zombie I'd much rather be alone."

Shaking his head he mumbled an apology as they sat down and ordered their tea. He stared out the dusty little window, watching the sun steadily rise, quickly erasing the night and giving way to a brilliant clear blue day. He frowned, there was not a cloud in the sky it distract him from his thoughts.

She slammed the tea cup down onto the table. "Good grief, Nara. You're really irritating me right now!"

His attention snapped back toward her, her clear teal eyes burning into his foggy brown ones. She was angry, her brows were furrowed, her eyes were narrowed, her nose was slightly crinkled, and her lips were twisted in a snarl. He was quite convinced she was ready to pounce on him like a lioness on her prey and tear him to shreds, but yet he found her so unbelievably attractive like that. She was hurling more insults at him, waving her arms wildly as she yelled, the quite morning air disrupted by her vociferous ranting. He stared intently at her as she berated him, he examined the way her lips parted as she spat the words at him, the way her chest heaved as she breathed heavily in between sentences, the way her arms flexed as she reached for her fan... oh wait what was that last one? In an instant he felt the heavy iron object impact with the side of his head.

He was knocked out of his chair and slammed onto the floor cradling his head in his hands. The room was spinning and he could hear the slight gasps of the few people who were present in the tea house. Flinching he felt the fan slam on to the ground, a little too close to his crumpled body for comfort. He knew she was standing over him, most likely with one hand on her hip, the other resting against her fan, a smug smirk on her face, ready to mock him. Opening an eye he looked up at her and scoffed, a small smirk spreading across his lips as his prediction of her stance was confirmed.

"Are you awake now?" She was smirking as she stood over him, one arm resting on the top of her fan the other planted firmly on her hip, eyes burrowing into his as they searched for the answer to her question.

He groaned, she took that as a yes. Lifting himself off the floor he repositioned himself on the chair, he stared at her, his head was throbbing, reminding him to pay attention to what she was saying. Recently it was getting harder and harder for him to focus around her, every little thing she did managed to somehow turn him on. He groaned again, he didn't know how much longer he could go, hiding his emotions for her, sooner or later he would have to tell someone, anyone would do. Well, perhaps not _anyone_. Ino would be a pretty bad choice, in about ten minutes half of Konoha would know his feelings, he concluded that Choji was really the only reasonable choice.

She stared at him from across the table, watching him drift off into his thoughts, leaving her to herself again. It bothered her that she couldn't keep his attention for longer than two minutes, in fact it really irritated her. "Hey, don't make me hit you again."

Her voice brought him back into focus again. "Woman, I didn't _make _you hit me the first time." He replied sarcastically, as a smirk slowly spread on his lips again. "Besides, you wouldn't be able to hit me twice in row even if you tried."

"Oh?" Her eyebrow cocked up. "Is that a challenge?"

He shook his head, "No, it was a statement. A fact really."

She growled and swung her fan at him again, only this time he dodged it, smirking knowingly at her as he stood just out of reach. "Fuck you, Nara." Defeated she slumped back down into her chair. He was right, yet again, and she was in no mood to destroy the little tea house she loved so much.

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**Anyway... I hope you liked it... ;D **


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